Don Watt, Gisli Balzer and Mike Lane will be taking a classic Klondike scene to Russia when they leave the territory for the fourth International Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival in Murmansk, Russia later this week.

This marks the group's first trip off the continent to show off their snow carving skills at an international level.

That's if the visas go through.

In an interview last Thursday, Watt said the team is facing a major issue of getting their visas cleared through Ottawa. They're hoping the visas will be finalized by the end of this week, when the team plans to leave the territory.

It was during competitions in Quebec last year that the Yukon team met their Russian counterparts. Despite the language barrier between the two teams, they got to know each other and the Canadians handed off some pins to the Russians.

'We had a great time with them,' Watt said.

It didn't take long after getting the invite for the group of carvers to decide they would head to Russia for the international competition.

'It's going to be fun,' Watt said.

One of the most interesting aspects of the event could be carving in the dark. The northern city of Murmansk is still largely in the dark for most of the day.

In Russia, the carvers are planning to do The Piano, a piece they have also presented in Quebec and Ottawa. There'll be some differences in this version.

One of the rules of the competition is a team can't do a carving it's already done before. However, with a few modifications, they can do the piece.

The piece features a honkytonk piano player in a bowler hat. It resembles a dancing motion, with all the piano keys piled up in one spot.

Off the end of the piano is a can-can girl drinking champagne. At the back is another can-can girl stretching her legs to dance.

'You get this wonderful swirling (in the piece),' Watt said.

So far, Watt has put just shy of $8,000 on his credit card to fund the journey, but plans are underway to fundraise for the trip.

'Unfortunately, it's all going to be after the fact,' Watt said.

The Yukon government's Department of Tourism and Culture 'just came on board,' Watt noted.

While the details haven't been worked out completely, the group is working with the government to bring up five teams from across western Canada for a bit of friendly competition later this winter.

If all goes according to plan, the teams would be invited to a three- or four-day event where snow carvings would be created and displayed for the public.

Because Watt, Lane and Balzer would host the event, another Yukon team of carvers would be responsible for creating a Yukon piece.

The group is also working with the city on a piece that will be created at the end of Main Street when they come back to town in February. Donations from the Main Street event will go against the trip to Russia.

Before leaving for Russia, the three carvers will be doing their annual carving at Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters on Fourth Avenue.

Pins are being sold for a minimum $5-donation to the group.

There's also a number of other pieces the group has been hired to do this winter.

Before arriving back in the territory though, they will stop off in Quebec for the annual national competition they take part in.

There, they will carve a first nations female dancer wearing a raven mask.

'I think it's a winner,' Watt said, noting he expects high marks in the technical category for the piece.

The team will then head home to Whitehorse with Watt soon taking off with another snow carving team to Nayoro, Japan.

A member of a three-member team from B.C. wasn't able to go to the Japan event so the team contacted Watt, who agreed to be part of the team.

'It'll be interesting,' Watt said.

Normally, the Yukon team works together, with each member taking the lead for a different part of the carving.

Watt is normally the first to lead, instructing Lane and Balzer on how to carve the impression of what the sculpture will look like. Watt then steps back, with Lane taking the lead on carving out the texture of the piece. He then retreats and Balzer leads Lane and Watt in developing the finer details of the piece.

With the B.C. team, the procedure is different. The Yukon team has worked beside the B.C. team at a number of competitions.

'They don't pass the piece around like we do,' he said.

Instead, each member of the team does a portion of the carving, including the impression, texture and details.